1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to beverage vessel accessories and, more specifically, to a universal coaster/stacking device for cups, mugs and glasses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous devices have been proposed for stacking cups, mugs and other beverage vessels. Some of these devices serve as coasters as well as facilitate the stacking of mugs, cups, glasses, etc. to better organize a kitchen cabinet and secure the stacked vessels in a stable manner to avoid breakage.
UK Patent GB2177999 discloses a device described as a “stacking link” to allow the efficient and safe vertical stacking of containers such as casks, kegs and drums as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the patent. Another stacking aid is disclosed in U.S. Published Patent Application 20090057248 that discloses a device for supporting water bottles and vertically stacking one on top of the other as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. Contours of the support faces are configured to mate with the contours of a water bottle and a central opening is provided to receive the neck of a bottle. As such, the device can also be used to support a single bottle as shown in FIG. 2.
A device normally used to seal a container also includes opposite facing recesses for sealing an opening in the top of a container while securely receiving the closed bottom end of a container that can be stacked as shown in FIG. 1C. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,951 a cup and saucer shape or configuration is shown for facilitating the stacking of one cup above the other by using the saucer or plate as the aligning or retaining element. The device is also shaped or configured to receive a small cream jug on the saucer in a stable condition as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,271, Japanese Patent 5,276,440, U.S. Published Applications 2011/0174658 and 2010/0133285 disclose specially designed or shaped container lids that are configured to allow multiple containers to be stacked one vertically above the other, serving the function of both sealing a lower container or cup and retaining the bottom end of an upper container or cup as shown, for example, in FIG. 7. With most of these designs the covers can also serve as a coaster for a single cup as shown in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,598,271.
In some instances, cups and saucers have been specially designed and configurated to stack one upon the other. Examples are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,187,899 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,951.
Stacking devices have also been designed to accommodate specific cups, as suggested above, the devices being dimensioned to receive a container or vessel that has a specific size, dimension or configuration, as is the case with the devices disclosed in GB2,177,999 and U.S. Published Patent Application 2009/0057248. Some of the proposed devices could be used to accommodate a number of differently sized vessels by making them fixed sufficiently large to support both smaller and larger vessels. However, this would require a device that has a larger footprint and may be impractical for smaller vessels since that would result in the inefficient use of space within a kitchen cabinet. The prior art has not disclosed a universal coaster/stacking device that is easy and convenient to use and can make efficient use of space within a kitchen cabinet by being contractible or expandable to accommodate mugs, cups, glasses or the like of different sizes or shapes.